LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 


Clvap. 
Shelf 






UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




OEATION 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



ill) :y^oiinril aiul :y^ifeenfj of j-ofitoii 



ONE HUNDRED AND SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLA- 
RATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 



JULY 4, 1878, 



BY 



JOSEPH HEALY. 




S t JX : 
FEINTED BY ORDER OE THE CITY COUNCIL. 

MDCCCLXXVIII. 






i 







CITY OF BOSTON, 



In Common Council, July 5, 1878. 

Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council be pre- 
sented to Joseph Healy, Esq., for the very appropriate, 
interesting, and instructive Oration delivered by him before 
the niunici[)al autliorities of this city on the occasion of the 
celebration of the one hundred and second anniversary of 
the DecUiration of American Independence ; and that he 
be requested to furnish a cop}^ for publication. 

Passed : sent up for concurrence. 

BENJAMIN POPE, 

President. 



In Board of Aldermen, July 8, 1878. 
Passed in concurrence. 



Approved July 9, 1878. 



S. B. STEBBINS, 

Chairman. 



HENRY L. PIERCE, 

Mayor 



ORATION. 



Mr. Mayor, Gentle^nen of the City Council, Fellow- 
Citizens : — 

It is our privilege to unite once more in the 
observances and rejoicings appropriate to this clay, 
and to celebrate, with grateful hearts, the events 
which are associated with it. Amid all the expres- 
sions of joy that surround us, the discharge of 
guns, the ringing of bells, the inspiring swell of 
music, we come together, in accordance with our 
annual custom, to take a brief retrospect of our 
national progress, and from the teachings of ex- 
perience to gather counsel for the present, and 
hope and encouragement for the future. It would 
be eminently pleasing, and consonant with the 
generous emotions which are excited by the re- 
currence of this anniversary, to allow our thoughts 
to dwell exclusively upon matters of history, and 
to gratify our pride by the contemplation of our 
national achievements. "Wonderful indeed have 
they been. The prolific seeds of civilization which 
were planted in the early time have borne abun- 



6 MliA'I'IOX. 

dant fruit. Our social progress, our political gro^vth, 
our iutcllectual advance, have kept pace with the 
development of our material resources, and together 
they have earned and secured for us an exalted 
rank among the nations. Yet we should iliil in 
the proper use of this occasion were we only to 
charm our I'ancy and satisfy our self-conceit by 
indulging in delightful reminiscences; forgetful of 
the duties which the living present devolves upon 
us. Let us then to-day, while congratulating our- 
selves upon the symmetry and apparent strength 
which our institutions exhibit, consider also whether 
dangers threaten them which the public vigilance 
should be aroused to avert. 

The foundation upon which our fathei-s based 
the theory of our government is the intelligence, 
integrity, and patriotism of the people. Upon that 
basis alone did they believe a free government 
could rest. They had faith that the diffusion of 
knowledge, the dissemination and discussion of 
the principles of political science, the influence of 
religion, would make men capable of understand- 
ing and appreciating their rights and duties, and 
zealous in the maintenance and discharge of them. 
The citizen, by participating in the government, 
would become the more interested in its preser- 
vation. The ties of kindred, the inborn love of 
counlry, the influence of custom and c\am|)le, the 



JULY 4, 1878. 7 

desire of pursuing one's vocation in tranqnillity, 
and the many selfish interests and magnanimous 
emotions which unite to bind one to the land of 
his birth, held undisturbed sway. But in place of 
the feudal sentiment of loyalty to a personal 
sovereign, they substituted the duty of loyalty to 
the people. They feared not that this duty would 
be laid down as too heavy a burden. The sys- 
tem of public instruction, the teachings of the 
pulpit, and the free interchange and discussion 
of opinion . among all classes of the community, 
had bred, in a hardy race of men, a clear, saga- 
cious, reasoning habit of thought, which enabled 
them to comprehend that their individual success 
depended on the prosperity of the community, and 
that the common welfare could be assured only 
by their personal and collective effort. 

Upon this foundation our fathers designed to 
raise the superstructure of a government which 
should be powerful enough to protect all rights 
of person and property, but which should not be 
strong enough to oppress any. The general prin- 
ciples of the government, as understood by its 
founders, cannot be more tersely and pithily ex- 
pressed than they were by Mr. Jefferson, in his 
famous inaugural address : " Equal and exact 
justice to all men, of whatever state or per- 
suasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, 



8 ORATION. 

and honest friendship Avith all nations — entan- 
gling alliances Avith none; the snpport of the State 
governments in till their rights, as the most com- 
petent administrations for our domestic concerns, 
and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican 
tendencies; the preservation of the general govern- 
ment in its whole constitutional vigor, as the 
sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety 
abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by 
the people, — a mild and safe cori'cctive of abuses 
which are lopped by the sword of revolution, 
where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute 
acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, — 
the vital principle of republics, from wdiich there 
is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and 
immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined 
militia, — our best reliance in peace and for the 
first moments of war, till regulars may relieve 
them; the supremacy of the civil over the military 
authority; economy in the public expense, that 
labor may be lightly burdened; the honest pay- 
ment of our debts, and sacred preservation of the 
])ublic faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of 
commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of infor- 
mation and the arraignment of all abuses at the 
bar of i^ublic opinion; freedom of religion; free- 
dom of the press; freedom of person under the 
protection of the habeas corjms, and trial by juries 



JULY 4, 1878. 9 

impartially selected, — these principles form the 
bright constellation which has gone before ns, and 
guided our steps through an age of revolution 
and reformation." 

With these purposes to fulfil and these ideas to 
confirm, the government began its existence. The 
predictions of many were that its duration would be 
brief. Those wdio felt that the general government 
was too weak foreboded the dissolution of the Union 
in anarchy, or, by the gradual encroachments of the 
States, a relapse into the weakness of a mere federa- 
tion, and the formation of a cluster of small indepen- 
dent sovereignties. On the other hand, it was feared 
that the general government would become the ag- 
gressor, and that, upon the ruins of American liberty, 
would be erected an oligarchy or an absolute mon- 
archy. These apprehensions of the faint-hearted 
happily proved illusive; and from each successive 
trial the government, supported by the intelligence 
and patriotism of its citizens, emerged with unimpaired 
strength and vigor. 

The obstacles to the successful working out of this 
theory of free government were neither few nor 
trivial. Local insurrections, economical jealousies, 
the continual struggle for political supremacy 
between the different sections of the country, taxed 
the wisdom, patience, and patriotism of our ablest 
statesmen. But beneath and beyond all these lay 



10 ORATION. 

the vital i)r()l)leiii of the ])owcrs of the general gov- 
ernment and of the individnal States. Long, acrimo- 
nious, and threatening Avere the controversies upon 
the different phases of the qnestion. In the times of 
the embargo and the war of 1812 party spirit became 
80 intiamed, and ran into such excesses, as to threaten 
the disrn})ti()n of the Union. But milder counsels at 
length prevailed, patriotism rose above party, and the 
imminent catastrophe was averted. Again the claim 
arose that each State is the final judge of its obliga- 
tions to the general government, and that it can at 
pleasure, within its own limits, suspend the execution 
of any law of the United States which it declares to 
be unconstitutional. The most powerful and ex- 
perienced intellects of the country brought all their 
strength into the debate upon this question, reason 
triumphed over passion, and an appeal to arms was 
stayed. But at length, in the fulness of years, when 
the strength of the nation had become adequate to 
the shock, the question whether this nation is merely 
a voluntary grouping of States, each sovereign, with 
full power of a negative on the acts of the general 
government, and with the power of withdrawal from 
the compact, was forever set at rest; and, incident- 
ally to the conflict, together with the doctrine of 
State sovereignty, fell the baneful institution of human 
slavery, which had been for generations a potent 
cause of sectional estrangement and bitterness. 



JULY 4, 1878. 11 

We have gone through all the threatenings of the 
past successfully, and have come forth from every 
controversy with undiminished vitality. We have 
accomplished this by following out the original ideas 
upon which the government was founded; and it is 
upon obedience to these same ideas that we must 
depend for a safe issue from our present and future 
dangers. The problems which lie before us for our 
solution are weighty; grave perils encompass us; to 
the intelligence, integrity, and patriotism of the 
people alone can we look for the solution and the 
deliverance. 

Let our first endeavors, then, be directed to strength- 
ening the ties which bind us together in political fel- 
lowship. We cannot be strong as a nation unless 
we are truly one people, all eager for the general 
good; all desirous of the maintenance and perpet- 
uation of the general government in its original 
spirit; all ready to leap to its defence, whether it be 
against foreign aggression or internal dissension. Our 
civil war closed thirteen years ago. It was of unex- 
ampled magnitude ; it was obstinately contested ; it 
cost us the flower of our early manhood; it left us 
with desolated homes, and entailed upon us and our 
posterity a heavy weight of pecuniary obligation, 
— and for what? What was it that stiff'ened the 
sinews, and summoned up even the most sluggish 
blood, in every city, town, and hamlet? Certainly it 



12 ORATION. 

Avas not the desire of forever alienating one part of 
the country from the other, and of keeping alive the 
passions of fratricidal strife. The treasure was 
poured forth, the sacrifices were made, the lives were 
given, that the Union might be kept intact, and be 
transmitted perfect in every part to succeeding gen- 
erations. Our victories were not sectional triumphs; 
they were won for the whole country, for those in 
arms against us, as well as for ourselves. The \nn'- 
pose of the Avar has been accomplished; the confed- 
erate armies laid down their arms, and the Southern 
people assured us that they accepted the result of the 
conflict. Did they otherwise desire, the Avar has 
forever settled the question of State sovereignty. 
Henceforward all their hope, all their expectation, all 
their greatness, depend upon the greatness and glory 
of the Union; apart from it they haA^e no future. Our 
greatness and our future are inseparable fi'om theirs. 
We are but the difierent parts of one great system ; 
if one part is diseased, the others languish. 

It remains for us to carry the results of our A'ic- 
tories to their full fruition, and, heeding not the 
malevolence Avhich for personal or partisan ends 
Avould keep us still in bitterness and turmoil, to do 
our part in eradicating all feeling of sectional dis- 
cord and alienation. The South needs our moral 
support in its faithful efforts to accommodate itself 
to the ncAV order of things ; it needs our cooperation 



JULY 4, 1878. 13 

and material assistance in building np afresh its 
shattered industries, and repairing the desolation and 
ravages of war. It is sparsely settled; it needs im- 
migration to populate it, and to render possible the 
general spread of intelligence among all classes of 
the community, by the development of a free-school 
system, which becomes domesticated and operative 
only in more thickly peopled districts. It has to 
work out the intricate and delicate problem of edu- 
cating for the exercise of the suffrage and for the 
performance of the duties of citizenship, untimely 
thrust upon them, a great mass of ignorant men, 
who, through no fault of their own, are unprepared 
and unqualified for such a responsibiUty. With 
the wisdom, prudence, and sagacity of the South 
rests the success or fixilure of the experiment. It 
is working in an untried field; there are no pre- 
cedents to guide. Let it have our cordial God- 
speed and such support as we can constitutionally 
ofter, for the national welfare is involved in the issue. 
We can look for "the preservation of the govern- 
ment in its whole constitutional vigor," only in the 
intelligence, patriotism, and virtue of the people 
throughout the length and breadth of the land. 

While we preserve inviolate the full prerogatives 
of the general government, we should be equally 
determined to uphold, in all their amplitude, the 
powers belonging to the States. The triumph of 



14 O II A T I O N . 

the dogma of State sovereignty would have been 
destructive to our system; the denial of the rights 
of the States would be equally subversive. In the 
exercise of all the powers of government, Avhich 
are not by the constitution expressly, or, by neces- 
sary implication, delegated to the United States, 
each State is, within the liuiits of its territory, su- 
preme. The equipoise of local self-government and 
centralization was delicately adjusted by the found- 
ers of our political system, and no encroachment 
can be made by one u[)on the other without destroy- 
ing the balance. The power vested in the general 
government secures our existence as a nation; the 
local authority of the States maintains our individual 
liberty, and represses the tendency of the central 
government toward absorption and consolidation of 
power. Trite and elementary as these principles 
may seem, they need to be repeatedly set forth and 
inculcated anew. The exigencies of our civil strife 
accustomed us to the exercise of extraordinary au- 
thority by the general government, Avhich was not 
wholly laid aside when the conflict of arms had 
ceased. Opinions difl^ered touching the course 
which it was expedient to pursue with reference 
to the States lately in revolt. Some of the wisest 
and most sagacious of our statesmen, including 
many distinguished and honored sons of Massachu- 
setts, believed that the old relations should be at 



JULY 4, 1878. 15 

once restored, and that, by treating our late oppo- 
nents with the generosity which a brave man 
always shows to his equally gallant but defeated 
antagonist, we should stimulate them to patriotic 
and eagfer efforts for the restoration of the com- 
mon weal. The majority, however, felt that it was 
too early to entrust a share in the administration 
of the government to those who had been so re- 
cently in arms against it. The hot passions engen- 
dered by the strife were not yet allayed, and 
frequently warped the judgment of sincere and 
patriotic men. Slumbering giants were evoked from 
the most innocent clauses of the Constitution, 
and interpretations were put upon its provisions 
which our fathers would never have sanctioned; 
and Avhich are now, under the decisions of our 
supreme judicial tribunal, and in the light of a 
clearer and calmer public sentiment, melting fast 
away. But to those whose infancy was cradled 
in the stormy times of war, who have witnessed 
from their youth up the exercise of unconstitutional 
powers b}^ the general government, the w^arning 
cannot be too frequently administered, that the 
duty imposed upon the United States, to guarantee 
to every State a republican form of government, 
simply inhibits the erection in any State of an 
aristocratic or monarchical form, conferring upon 
the general government no power to set up or 



IG O K A T I N . 

]nill doAvn the executive of a State; to supersede 
the courts of hl^Y by the (h"um-head; to overawe 
the legislative body by military force; or even, 
without the requisition of the State authorities, 
constitutionally expressed, to police its territory. 

Upon the subject of executive patronage the 
Constitution has little to say. It invests the Pres- 
ident with the powder of appointment, which is to 
be exercised subject to the approval of the Senate. 
The only limitation placed upon its exercise forbids 
the appointment of any senator or representative, 
during the term for which he was elected, to any 
civil oflSce which shall have been created, or the 
emoluments of which shall have been increased, 
during such time. It was supposed that the re- 
sponsibility thus placed upon the executive would 
render him discreet in the perfoi'uiance of his 
duties; and, from a regard for his own reputation, 
even should no higher motive regulate his conduct, 
conservative in his appointments. After the re- 
quirements of each position had been carefully in- 
vestigated, the diiferent offices would be filled by 
men wdio were expected to pass no other test than 
that of capability, honesty, and fiiithfulness. The 
executive judgment would not be influenced by 
those motives which sway popular assemblies, and 
which look rather to " the qualifications which are 
best adapted to uniting the sufiVages of the party,'' 



JULY 4, 1878. 17 

than to unmixed consideration of the public g-ood. 
Should any President possibly deviate from this 
course, Hamilton thought that the controlling 
power of the Senate "would tend greatly to pre- 
vent the appointment of unfit characters, from 
State prejudice, from family connexion, from per- 
sonal attachment, or from a view to popularity." 
Did any one suggest that the executive, by shrewd 
distribution of the patronage, might become master 
of the Senate, and control the course of legisla- 
tion, he was referred to the underlying principles 
of free government, which could not exist unless 
the virtue and honor of the chosen body far out- 
weighed any tendency to venality. The assump- 
tion that the Senate might control the President, 
by the exercise of its restraining power, seemed 
almost too preposterous for argument. It scarcely 
entered into the heart of man to conceive that 
the President would deliberately abuse the high 
trust confided to him by turning it to private or 
partisan uses. Hamilton and others were of the 
opinion that the President's power of removal, 
like that of appointment, could be' exercised only 
with the concurrence of the Senate; and Mr. Madi- 
son declared that the causeless removal of meri- 
torious officials would render the President liable 
to impeachment. But it was soon conceded that 
the power of removal is vested exclusively in the 



18 OK AT I ON. 

President, and that the Senate cannot question his 
motives or require his reasons. 

Six successive Presidents held to the honorable 
course of basing their appointments solely upon the 
l)ublic welfare. President John Adams doubted 
whether it were fitting that he should allow his 
son to remain in an official station to which he 
had been appointed by Washington. Partisan 
zeal and kinship to the President were obstacles 
to political advancement. After the lapse of forty 
years from the adoption of the Constitution, the 
country awoke to hear the cry of Vce vidls! 
resounding through the land ; to see capable and 
tried ofl[icials, who had fiiithfully devoted the best 
years of their manhood to the service of their 
country, wantonly removed to make way for those 
whose past services to party constituted their 
primary claim upon the fiivor of the executive. 
Then w^as first proclaimed the iniquitous doctrine 
that to the victors belong the spoils ; and the 
precedent was set of regarding the federal oflices, 
not as so many posts to be filled by men whose 
sole official aim should be the advancement of the 
country's prosperity, through the faithful perform- 
ance of their own work, each in his especial 
sphere ; but as the legitimate booty of the suc- 
cessful party, — as nmch the prize of victory as 
the conquered town, which a strenuously resisted 



JULY 4, 18 78. 19 

but triumphant foe ruthlessly pillages and sacks. 
It is needless to recall how faithfully the prece- 
dent has been followed and extended ; until now, 
perhaps, multitudes are unaware that other prin- 
ciples of administering the government once pre- 
vailed. It is enough that we are confronted with 
a system which makes the federal office-holder an 
integral part of a mighty and potent political 
machine. As office came to be considered the 
prey of the victorious party, and fidelity to trust 
was as nothing in the balance against party zeal, 
the office-holders naturally felt that their chance 
of retaining office depended upon the success of 
the party to which they belonged. No matter 
how faithfully and efficiently their public duties 
had been performed; if they were found in the 
ranks of the vanquished, honesty, capacity, and 
fidelity would avail them naught. With the suc- 
cess of party their bwn well-being became in- 
timately connected, for, with defeat, their present 
means of gaining a livelihood would be taken 
from them. The most powerful motive in life 
became the stimulus of their endeavors. 

Thus gradually was built up that organized and 
compact force, which brings to bear upon the 
decision of political questions, and into political 
contests, the whole weight of the administration 
at the time in power, and turns the authority of 



20 O U A T I O N . 

the government from its legitimate purpose to 
jDersonal and selfish ends. A potent force it is, — 
the united and concentrated efforts of tens of 
thousands of dexterous men, whose daily bread 
depends on the success of their exertions. Party 
discipline compels a degradation from which great 
numbers of them would gladly be free. This inter- 
vention of the government impairs the power and 
interest of the people in elections, Avhich our 
fathers designed so carefully to preserve. The in- 
terference of government ofhcers in politics was so 
deprecated, their influence was foreseen to be so far- 
reaching, that the Constitution forbade any senator 
or representative, or any person holding an office 
of trust or profit under the United States, to be aj)- 
pointed a presidential elector, lest self-interest should 
bias his judgment, or his service require the recom- 
pense of patronage. Since the rise and growth 
of the spoils system, federal officials have come 
practically to select the various candidates of their 
party, to control the nominating* conventions, and to 
bring all the vast machinery of the civil service to 
bear on the election. Xor do they conffiie themselves 
to national politics. Their intei'ference has steadily 
extended itself into State and municipal elections, 
where an entirely different set of considerations 
from those which govern in national politics should 
guide the exercise of the sulfrage. The pernicious 



JULY 4, 1878. 21 

effect of this perversion of the civil service has 
been visible, not only in the bending of the ener- 
gies of government to secure a party triumph, but 
we have seen the management of the party, which 
at any time or place happens to be in opposition, 
generally falling into the hands of those who wish 
to attain a public station, and who, knowing that 
lucrative office is the reward of party zeal, see 
their chief opportunity for distinction or a compe- 
tency in the triumph of their party, right or wrong. 
The effect of this has been extremely disastrous. 
It is one of the causes of that political indifference 
and apathy among the very men whose influence 
in politics would be beneficial, which, if not checked 
and supplanted by an energetic patriotism, will in 
time work incalculable injury to our system. The 
well-meaning citizen, who desired to accomplish 
something toward the elevation of politics to a 
higher level, has found himself powerless in the 
selection of those who are to make his laws and 
distribute his taxes; and his unselfish endeavor has 
met the covert sneer, or open imputation of self- 
interest, so customary has it been that "none will 
sweat but for promotion." Thus finding his ear- 
nest eftbrt, his intelligent patriotism, his lofty aspi- 
rations for his country's good, of no avail, and 
dishonorable motives imputed to his best endeavors, 
he retires disheartened from the contest, and leaves 



22 O R A T I O N . 

the work of managing politics to those who have self- 
interest to excite their endeavors. Let tlic civil ser- 
vice be taken from the domain of politics, and not 
only will its practical working be improved, but a 
great cause of disinclination in the present genera- 
tion to interest itself in public affairs will be elimi- 
nated. 

Another danger Avhicli our institutions niay 
have to meet is the communistic spirit, which 
is sweeping over Europe, and threatens not to 
stay its course at the borders of the Atlantic. 
Should it strike our shores, will our house prove 
to be founded uj^on the sands, or will the 
groundwork upon Avhich our fathers builded be 
secure and firm to sustain the edifice against 
the storm? A\e have that common-sense which 
springs from widespread intelligence and the nature 
of our laws and government; begetting a con- 
servatism that shrinks from the untried, from in- 
novations which may bring upon us evils that we 
know not of. We gave a fresh illustration of it 
at the very threshold of our second century of 
national existence. We were brought face to lace 
with the perils of a disputed election to the Presi- 
dency. The world waited to behold our action. 
In other times and other lands disputed succes- 
sions have been settled only with civil tumult and 
bloodshed. The qualities which were believed by 



JULY4,1878. 23 

the architects of our pohty to be inherent in free 
institutions again preserved us, and we were en- 
abled to exhibit a self-control that surprised ahke 
the friends and enemies of popular government. 
Will this common-sense prompt us to detect the 
sophistries and escape the dangers of communism? 
Shall w^e see that our institutions practically give 
us all that is good in the socialistic idea; and 
that, if we attempt to carry it to its delusive ex- 
treme, we shall create a state of affairs in which 
our liberties will be greatly endangered, if not lost 
forever ? Can we not understand that there is 
no antagonism between labor and capital ; that 
they are mutually dej)endent each upon the other ? 
Labor creates capital, and the capital thus created 
benefits and sustains labor. But for the accumula- 
tion of capital the world would still be in a prim- 
itive state. It is capital which enables the man 
whose sole property lies in his hands, and his 
dexterity in using them, to be of benefit to him- 
self and the community. Where would he find 
the raw material to work upon, the tools and 
machinery to ply, the house to shelter him, the 
food to sustain life, or the clothing for himself 
and family, if capital had not already garnered 
them ? 

Because others have amassed the result of labor 
in their employments, he is enabled to devote his 



2 J: ORATION. 

entire energies to his especial work, and, if lie be 
thrifty, to lay something' by. It is the faculty of 
accumulation which constitutes the great diftcrence 
between civilized and savage communities. The 
savage has some capital. He builds his canoe 
and foshions his bow and spear ; and with this 
slight capital on hand he obtains fish and game, 
as food for his family, or to sell to those who 
have amassed, in some other pursuit, capital enough 
to purchase them. But the foresight which gives 
up present pleasure for future advantage, the self- 
denial which supplants indolence by industry and 
perseverance, are lacking. The advance and im- 
provement of communities are stimulated by man's 
desire of accumulation, of improving his condition 
in life. But this desire will not be exercised; per- 
severance, frugality, and self-denial will not be put 
forth, unless there be a reasonable prospect that 
the results of endeavor and thrift will be secured 
to the possessor. To furnish this security, to main- 
tain laAVS which assure to every one the free 
scope and exercise of his full powers, while at 
the same time they protect each in his rights of 
person and property, is the function of govern- 
ment. This is true liberty. It protects each man 
in the use of his fiiculties, and gives him the op- 
portunity of doing his best with them, free from 
interference from without. " Liberty means not the 



JULY 4, 18 78. 25 

bare absence of restraint, but the absence of in- 
jurious restraint." We place glass around our 
street lamps for their protection. It gives no added 
lustre to the flame, nor does it enable the rays 
to penetrate farther into the darkness. Commu- 
nism, with an anathema against the imprisonment 
of the flame, shivers the glass. The flame re- 
mains; its brilliancy is undiminished; but in all 
probability the next sharp pufl* of wind will ex- 
tinguish it. 

Men are fundamentally unequal, in age, in 
strength of body and vigor of intellect, in indo- 
lence and the power of application, in health and 
weakness, in all the physical and mental traits 
which mark the race. Liberty fosters this inequal- 
ity; for, with the full play of our natural powers, 
subject only to the limitation that they do not 
infringe another's personal or proprietary rights, 
the original diversities of men are increased. Com- 
munism, on the other hand, proclaims universal 
equality; it forbids the free exercise of the facul- 
ties; it suppresses the desire of acquiring property. 
All property, all w^ealth, all accumulations of labor, 
are to be thrown into a common fund, and an equal 
share assigned to each member of the community. 
Henceforth no one is to possess more than another; 
all are to share equally in the results of the ag- 
gregate labor. We shall then be able to raise all 



26 ORATION. 

mankind to a higher level of material and intel- 
lectual prosperity. As ^vell might we take the 
eaglets from their eyry, and, plucking every feather 
from their wings, set them among the lowing 
herds, and call upon the mass to rise. If all hope 
of a competency be taken from us, what stimulus 
for exertion is left but the fear of starvation? Let 
this also be removed, and man would become like 
the natives of the tropics, who put forth little en- 
deavor, except to pluck the fruit that grows ready 
to their hand. Men and nations must have activity 
to thrive. It was the incessant struggle for su- 
premacy in western Europe that gave it civiliza- 
tion. The lifeless cycle of Cathay yields nothing 
but stagnation. 

Who is to superintend this equal distribution of 
property? Upon what plan will this equality be 
measured? Will the incapable and infirm share 
the results for which they have not toiled equally 
with the competent and strong by whose exertions 
the results were produced? Who will accurately 
strike a balance between ditferent degrees of physi- 
cal power? How will the unskilled labor of the 
boy count in comparison with that of the skilled 
mechanic? AVho will determine how much mental 
labor equals a given amount of physical toil? 
AVho will decide to what kind of work each mem- 
ber of the community shall be assigned, and what 



JULY4,1878. 27 

employments he shall be debarred from following? 
To place the determination of these questions in 
the discretion of any man, or set of men, would 
reduce the general mass of mankind to abject 
slavery. It is the slave alone who is compelled to 
work for others with a recompense which bears no 
relation to his skill or to the amount of his toil, 
who has no choice of employment, and no oppor- 
tunity of bettering his condition. 

I cannot believe that the American people will 
follow these delusive phantoms of a French philos- 
ophy. Like the ignis fatuus that flits along a 
miasmatic swamp, they exhale from decay and cor- 
ruption. The causes which gave them birth do 
not obtain here. Here no rigid castes, no customs 
more inexorable than law, forbid a man to rise. 
The same thatched roof does not shelter genera- 
tion after generation of one family, Avith no possi- 
bility to any of them of escape from poverty 
and degradation. The same little shop does not 
descend from father to son and from son to 
grandson, bringing to desire no opportunity for a 
rise in the world, for increase of pecuniary re- 
sources, or for intellectual improvement. In this 
country each man feels that the chance is open to 
him of advance and improvement for himself; and, 
if he distrust his own ability to grasp the oppor- 
tunity, he is resolved that his children shall be, 



28 O K A T ION. 

and is assured that they can be, placed on a level 
higher than his own. He sees that the laborer of 
to-day is the capitalist of to-morrow; that the 
great fortunes of the country are generally held 
by men who began life poor; and that inherited 
wealth is dissipated in one or two generations. 
Our laws favor the alienation of land, so that 
great estates are not bound up from age to age in 
the same family. The permanent inequality of 
property, which fosters socialism, does not exist 
here. If this were not so, our peril would be 
vastly greater than it is. Our government is 
founded on the consent of the people; and if the 
great majority of the people felt that its tendency 
was to concentrate property in a few hands, 
leaving to the rest no lot but poverty, we might 
indeed expect that their assent to its continuance 
would be withheld. But, as it is, by far the 
greater part of the people have some property, 
however small; some interests, however insignificant 
to others; some expectation of future acquisition, 
which would be destroyed by communism. Com- 
munism in America means the combination of all 
the elements which intelligence, Christianity, de- 
cency, the instincts of human nature, regard with 
abhorrence. It proclaims the sword and torch; it 
preaches infidelity; it aims at the abolition of the 
family relation; it desires the overthrow of all that 



JULY 4, 1878. 29 

the world reverences as holy. Its only opportunity 
here is in the incitement of unthinking men to 
violence, for the redress of some real grievance or 
imaginary vs^rong; and then, having once aroused 
the whirlwind, to pour the offscourings of our 
cities into its vortex, and with their aid to turn its 
force against the community at large, involving 
those who were at the beginning its unwitting 
tools in the common ruin. We must resist it at 
its first appearance. It is a social tiger, that we 
cannot tame. Half-way measures are an insult to 
intelligence, and a cruelty to the poor and rich 
alike. N^ew York's blank cartridges, fifteen years 
ago, cost it three days of blood and conflagration. 
Pittsburg's inefficiency last summer put life and 
property at the mercy of the rioters, and gave the 
signal for like outbreaks in other localities. Bos- 
ton's one volley of grape and canister, at the 
Cooper-street armory, — fearful as was its neces- 
sity, — quelled in an instant the rising turbulence, 
and won for the city continued peace. 

English writers are apt to take a gloomy view 
of the future of this country; and many of our 
own thinkers are oppressed by the weaknesses 
and dangers which universal suftrage presents, 
rather than encouraged by our past success. With 
" Kenelm Chillingly," they honor an American, " as 
the citizen of a grand republic, trying his best to 



30 O K A T I N . 

accomplish an experiment in government in which 
he will find the very prosperity he tends to create 
will sooner or later destroy his experiment." They 
see our material prosperity; but concurrently with 
it they see an increasing disinclination among the 
men of wealth, of trained intellect, of cultured 
powers, to engage actively in poHtics, and to exert 
the influence which wise, patriotic, public-spirited 
efibrt should command. They see them shrinking 
from contact with the forces which in too many 
instances mould our politics; dejectedly retiring 
from a fruitless contest with the politicians, or 
even coolly calculating the percentage of loss en- 
tailed by a vigorous fight against the " rings " 
which dominate their cities, compared with the 
increase of taxation which will result if the depre- 
dations go unopposed. An English traveller, who 
lately remonstrated with some Americans against 
their indifference to political responsibility, has 
spread before his countrymen the reply : " We 
are making money, and on the wiiole it is cheaper 
to be swindled than to give one's time to public 
work to prevent ourselves from being swindled." 
Is it any wonder that foreigners, who happen 
upon patriotism like this, should echo our poet's 
cry : — 

"Is the dollar only I'eal?— Goil and truth ami rij,'lit a droain? 

Weighed against your lying ledgers, must our nianhood kick the beam? " 



JULY 4, 1878. 31 

We cannot den}^ that there is a widespread in- 
difference to the duties and privileges of citizen- 
ship. It is an evil feature of the times, and, if it 
prove to be more than a temporary phase of pol- 
itics, it will endanger the stability of our institu- 
tions. We need resolute, persistent eifort to over- 
come it. It is beyond credence that the country 
is "tired of its prosperity, sick of its own growth 
and greatness, and infiituated for its own destruc- 
tion." It cannot be that we are now to write our 
epitaph : — ; 

" We turn to dust, and all our mightiest works 
Die too : the deep foundations that we lay, 
Time ploughs them up, and not a trace remains. 
We huild with what we deem eternal rock : 
A distant age asks where the fabric stood ; 
And in the dust, sifted and searched in vain, 
The undiscoverable secret sleeps." 

We need to cultivate more earnestly the unselfish 
patriotism, the pure aspiration, the self-sacrificing 
public spirit, of which our ancestors gave such con- 
spicuous examples. We need to refrain from 
gloomy foreboding and disheartening apprehension, 
and to address ourselves courageously and hope- 
fully to the duties which lie before us. Immigra- 
tion is continually pouring in upon us great num- 
bers of men who are unacquainted with the theory 
of our government, and lack the practical knowl- 



32 ORATION. 

edge of republican institutions which is requisite 
to an intelligent exercise of the rights of citizen- 
ship. It is the duty of those who have felt the 
beneficent influence of our Federal Union, who have 
reaped the advantages of education, of prosperity, 
of happiness, of all the blessings which constitu- 
tional liberty fosters and assures, to instruct and 
enlighten them. Their minds should be opened to 
a full understanding of the principles of our con- 
stitutional system, and to the inestimable value of 
the privileges and opportunities which they acquire 
beneath it; their hearts should be attuned to a 
patriotic love for the country of their adoption; 
they should become imbued with the spirit of our 
traditions, and taught to lay aside the prejudices 
and animosities which belong to other lands and 
are the fruit of political dogmas hostile to our 
interests and prosperity. They should learn that 
demagogues, who would foster and perpetuate their 
prejudices of race, and arouse among them civic dis- 
sensions, are mischievous and untrustworthy guides. 
Are we not unfaithful to our responsibility, are 
we not pusillanimous, if we despondently complain 
that the votes of these men neutralize our own, 
yet put forth no effort to make their votes intelli- 
gent and beneficial forces of our political society? 
"What good will our toiling and money-getting do 
us; what advantage shall we reap from our elegant 



JULY 4, 18 78. 33 

leisure, our festhetic culture, our liberal training, 
our refined tastes, if the very foundations of the 
government, whose protection renders opulence, 
learning, and progress possible, decay and crum- 
ble? 

Let us, then, kindle anew that fervid patriotism 
which the cold and suffering of Valley Forge 
could never chill, and which drooped not in the 
hot glens and marshes that sheltered Marion's 
men. The interests of our daily life require as 
exalted a courage and as true a love of country 
as the sterner duties of the field. Let us cherish 
and sustain our educational institutions, which 
foster intelligence and morality, and give that in- 
tellectual training and mental equipment for the 
work of life, without which even generous culture 
and varied scholarship fail of their due result. 
The debt of gratitude we owe to them can never 
be repaid. Let us' cherish, too, that fidelity to 
conscience, . that unspotted public and private faith, 
that integrity which quails not at the behest of 
faction or self-interest, that fraternal spirit of 
generous confidence and mutual regard, which in 
the past gave to us our strength, and which in 
the future will insure its perpetuity. Then shall 
we prove true citizens of a glorious republic; then 
may we portray America in those tender and 



u 



OKA T 1 () N 



<ilowhij>- lines in whicli Freedom has been so 
gTaphicaily imaged Inrtli : — 

" Her (ipoii I'Vis (li'siie Uk- tnitli. 

'l"lu' wisdom of a tliousanil yi'iirs 

Is in tlu'in. May perpetual yoiitii 

Kerj) ilry tlieir lijiht from tears; 



' Tliat lier fair form may staTid and shine, 

Make hrigbt our days and lii;lit our dreams, 
Turnint? to scorn witli lips divine 
The falsehood of extremes I " 




OEATION^ 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



|jli) l^oiuicil and :^^iti^enH of 



ONE HUNDRED AND SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLA- 
RATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 



JULY 4, 1878 



BY 



JOSEPH HEALY. 




g S t It : 
PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 

]M D C C C L X X V I I I . 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



I I III I III 

011 782 948 • 




W' 



